Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for executing a print job.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, some image forming apparatuses have allowed a print job that has been input from a personal computer (PC) to be reserved in a temporary storage area of an auxiliary storage device thereof. Thus, the user who has input the print job can log in to the image forming apparatus at desired timing to print the job. This is called authentication printing. However, an administrator needs to register identification information of the user in advance in a user identification information storage location (user database) so that the user can log in to the image forming apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-254618 discusses a technique for automatically registering the user name of a user who has input a job in a user database when the user has input the job. This technique saves an administrator from having to register user identification information in advance in the user database. The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-254618 also discusses a technique (simple authentication) in which the registered user name is displayed on an authentication screen and the user can readily log in to a device by selecting the user name of the user.
Moreover, some recent image forming apparatuses employ an authentication method called “departmental authentication” by which login control is performed based on department identification information. By using “departmental authentication”, a limitation on the number of sheets to be used, and/or count of the number of used sheets can be set on a department-by-department basis. Moreover, some image forming apparatuses employ an authentication method that is a combination of “user authentication” and “departmental authentication”.
In a conventional technique, even when a job with a specified user name and specified department identification (ID) is input to an image forming apparatus in an environment where “departmental authentication” and “user authentication” are enabled, the department ID cannot be automatically registered in a department database. Further, the user name and the department ID cannot be automatically associated with each other. Consequently, to limit the number of sheets to be used or to count the number of used sheets on a department-by-department basis, a user needs to register the department ID afterward or manually associate the department ID with the user name, which is troublesome for the user. Hence, in a case where an authentication mode such as the above-described “departmental authentication” in which authentication is performed according to where the user belongs and an authentication mode such as the above-described “user authentication” in which authentication is performed according to user information are both enabled, the user needs to perform the cumbersome task of associating these authentication modes with each other.